Amanda McQuade
AP Language and Compositions English III Summer Reading Assignment
*DO NOT COMPLETE REGULAR ASSIGNMENT, BUT ANNOTATE THOROUGHLY
Explanatory Note
Left Hand Column
Used for SWIFT and SOAPSTONE
S: There is no given speaker (as the passage is
formulated in third person) when talking
about the relationship between the two
authors.
O: The occasion is a biographical device used
for the main authors. The explanatory note is
used as to explain the connection between the
authors, the different styles of the authors, and
the way the author’s works correlate together
to provide interesting thoughts.
A: The audience is the reader who needs a
proper introduction to the authors and how
each one processes and gives information
throughout the course of the script.
P: The purpose of the explanatory is to give a
synopsis of the author’s specific styles of
replicating information and thoughts to give
unique ways to perception of facts and
statistics.
S:The subject matter of this passage is to
credit Steven Levitt, an economist, and his co-
author Stephen J. Dubner who explores
subjects in a different manner. It is meant to
give the reader a sense of correlation between
Levitt’s sense of economics and mathematical
thinking, and Dubner’s more intuitive nature.
T: The overall tone of this passage is
informative, and it should be noted that this
explanatory note is from New York Times
Magazine, 2003, to give insight on the
author’s collaboration and reasoning.
Right Hand Column
Used for Text interactions, Reflection,
Summary, and extensions
● “If morality represents how people
would like the world to work, then
economics show how it actually does
work” (pg. 1) of the table of contents
presents the central idea of the text.
● The first and foremost subject
addressed at the beginning of the
explanatory, is how a homeless man
who has no money, is able to own an
expensive pair of headphones, as
viewed by economist (and co-author),
Steven Levitt.
● Stephan Dubner (a journalist) is asked
to build a profile of Steven Levitt (an
economist). They both find that they
may seem different, but they can see
this differences as appealing and take
interest.
● Dubner does not completely
understand economics at the capacity
of Levitt.
● Levitt sees the world at a more
scientific stance and has a gift for
asking complex questions.
● “If the right questions are asked, the
more intriguing the world will be”
S: There is not much use of symbolism
present in this passage to be noted.

W: The word choice differs in this script.

When quoting Dubner’s article, Dubner
chooses to write in the form of story, as he
describes a situation (the homeless man story)
that describes the way Levitt thinks. He then
proceeds to tell about Levitt’s visit with the
Fellowship about the book, using lots of
imagery and figurative language to make the
article interesting. In the middle of this
passage, there is a 3rd person viewpoint on
both Dubner and Levitt that can be riddled
with less bias towards a particular story unlike
Dubner’s praise of Levitt. This part is more
concerned with giving both authors their own
credit toward their own personal styles.

I: At the beginning of the chapter, there are

many instances of visual imagery when
introducing Levitt: “aging green Chevy
Cavalier with a dusty dashboard and a
window that doesn’t quite shut”, “a torn
jacket, too heavy for the warm day, and a
grimy red baseball cap”

F: Instances of Figurative Language,

including “ like dogs tugging at a bone” (pg.
6)

T: This particular chapter gives the reader the

main ideas of the text they are about to read,
but gives very little explanation of a
centralized story. It is said at the very end of
the chapter, “Why does he need to have a
unifying theme?” in reference to Levitt
pitching a book to the society of fellows who
ask what the theme is. This indicates, that
there will be little to mention about an overall
theme.
Introduction
S: Speaker is in 3rd person from the authors.
O: Occasion is to first discuss various topics
such as Roe vs Wade on decreasing crime,
Real Estate Agents, Money and politics, and
the prices of chewing gum. These topics are
explained, then they are smashed together at
the end of the topic to give an example of how
the book will be written, the purpose of the
book, and how Freakonomics will tell stories
and create a theme from data.
A: The audience is the reader.
P: The Purpose is to simulate how the book
will be formatted, and that the book has been
designed to make a person think about things
before absorbing something the way that it is
presented to them. It allows people to look
deeper inside subject matter.
S: The subject matter is firstly on a variety of
different topics, such as how Roe vs Wade
affects crime, how experts help clients vs
themselves, how money affects elections, and
the cost of gum; at the end of the discussion, it
is said by the authors that the book will cover
all kinds of subject matter and there will be
recurring topics throughout the course of the
novel.
T: It is stated that there is no unifying theme.
S: Symbolism is found on page 11 when
describing the pace at which a real estate
agent tries to find the best offer: “Like a
stockbroker churning commissions, she wants
to make deals and make them fast.”
W: The chapter is worded with a semi
academic (due to Levitt’s critical,
mathematical thought structure), but still
● The beginning of this chapter mainly
focuses on the rise of crime in the
United States during the 1990s.
● Teen homicides are on the rise and are
estimated to increase by 15%
● The predictions ended up being false,
and teen homicide rates actually fell
by 50%.
● Even though the crime drop seemed to
have perfectly good explanations,
there was never any anticipation that
Crime would become worse 20 years
later.
● How did Roe vs Wade trigger the
greatest crime drop in recorded
History?
● Children born in a bad environment
are more likely to become criminals.
● Argues that people are influenced at
the environment around them.
● Women from “bad neighborhoods”
who have abortions contribute to the
crime drop by aborting future
criminals.
● Uses symbolism through real estate
agents as an example of those enjoying
the advantages of using knowledge to
gain the highest price from the people
who are dependant on them. Such as
scientists and lawyers. Yet, this isn’t
always the case. They can work with
you, or they can work against you.
● What is the real estate agent’s
incentive when she is selling her own
home? The answer is to make the best
carries notes of Dubner’s simplicity to give
the reader a fundamental understanding of the
passage.
I: Imagery found on page 7; “He was a
scrawny, big-city teenager with a cheap gun in
his hand and nothing in his heart but
ruthlessness.” This is used to describe many
other teenagers like him who would
contribute to rising crime.
F: “as if we are peering at the world through a
straw or even staring at a fun house mirror.”
(pg. 14) Metaphorical for trying to find the
deeper meaning of subject matter in the book.
T: The tone is mostly academic with the end
of the novel becoming more of an explanatory
as to “what the readers should expect)
deal possible.
● This differs from when she sells your
house; she wants to push you towards
the first offer. This is an example of
how how an expert treats you vs their
own service.
● How these two topics are able to
correlate, is treatment and
circumstance. When talking about the
correlation with women in poorer
neighborhoods having higher numbers
of abortions and how this eliminates
crime, this also has similarities
between expert services and how they
perform for clients vs how they
perform for themselves. It can be
argued that like abortion clinics in
poor areas can be seen as the “first and
easiest deal” out, very much like in the
way of real estate agents selling
client’s houses on “the first and easiest
deal”. Like they cater the first and
easiest option to women in criminal-
ridden areas to abort a future criminal
to decrease crime. Abortion clinics,
are indeed a service many people rely
on (such as lawyers and other experts
we also rely on for other services) and
they cater in a very similar way as real
estate agents; “the first possible
opportunity to come along is the first
one they push people towards.” as they
see opportunity in poor, criminal-
ridden areas. (this is a personal view of
mine, as these two topics seem to have
similarities between high power
systems like Planned Parenthood and
experts such as Lawyers and Real
Estate agents, cater to the often
uneducated and “lower” people in the
systems.)
● Money is now a very large factor in
political elections. This is increasingly

Chapter 1
S: Speaker None
O: Occasion is to speak about the economist
day care solution, incentives, and why crime
rates should be rising but are not, High stakes
testing,
A: Regular audience
P: The purpose is to talk about the economist
prevalent in today’s world, as almost a
prediction to the most recent elections.
Billionaires seem to gain the most
votes for advertising, celebrity
endorsements, and other campaign
paraphernalia. Almost as if actual
promises don’t matter, but if it is a
well known name who owns a lot of
money.
● “The key to measure a candidate
against... himself” (pg. 12).
● So far, as a reader, the novel is fast-
paced in between it’s subject matter
and that can often be confusing as I
start to think in a deeper level about
one topic, it quickly jumps onto a
completely different one, which can be
problematic when critically thinking
about subject matter. Although each
topic seems completely different, the
authors waste no time in explaining;
but it is an unsaid connection that the
reader is able to reflect upon as each
topic is presented.
● “This book is about stripping the first
two layers back to reveal what is
underneath”
First begins with the topic of if parents should
be fined when picking up their children late at
day care.
Economists tested this solution by studying 10
daycares in Israel for 20 weeks. First they
tracked the number of late parents, and by the
strategy, incentives, crime rates, High stake
testing,
S: There are multiple subjects, but the main
one focuses on the effects of cheating and
honesty in today’s society.
T: No unifying theme
S: Symbolism found in the bagel and Israeli
day care system examples on honesty and
how people either take advantage of systems
(like the bagel example) or how systems take
advantage of people (the Israeli Day Care
example.)
W: Word choice remains a fairly casual tone
with word use, which has remained consistent
in the last few chapters, and will probably
remain consistent for the rest of the novel. I
think this annotation is a little useless because
I’m not finding many changes as far as word
choice is concerned.
I: Imagery is used in the first paragraph which
is used as a window into the eyes of
economists when parents are tardy to pick up
their kids from day care. Using words such as Ever since the beginnings of high stake
“Imagine you are…” to give the reader time to testing, there have been concerns with student
think about how it would “feel” and
“imagine”.
F: “mankind is innately and universally
corrupt?” pg. 32) is hyperbole because it
exaggerates the premise of the chapter, and
jumps to the extremes that everyone is a
cheater and corrupt. The author, however uses
this as comical because he finishes his
sentence as “bagels may hold the answer” to
make things dramatic.
T: Tone, like word choice may be useless in
the annotation assignment because it has kept
a very consistent tone in the informative but
still questioning.
fifth week, they started fining parents. The
solution did not work, but the original 8 late
pick ups per day built to be 20 per day when
adding the fine.
Incentive- Urging people to do more of a good
thing and less of a bad thing.
Single Incentives tend to use the three basics;
economic, social, and moral, with most
incentives being crime.
Moral- No one wants to do anything they
consider wrong.
Social- they don’t want to be seen by others
doing wrong
The crime example: The steep declines in
homicides works as a strong Incentive.
Why the daycare incentive does not work: it
did not use all three major bases. The
economic base substituted the moral base,
being that a small amount fine did not cause
as much guilt for parents.
cheating…. But what about teacher cheating?
Personal thought: have they ever wondered if
giving all children the same test does not give
the child advantages, but can be problematic
for students who think differently?
Standardized testing is telling each individual
child that they all think the same, and
therefore they are all scored the same, which
sounds like flawed logic in itself. No wonder
teachers are helping their students cheat,
because students are all different thinkers and
they all study in different ways.
35% of teachers have seen colleagues change,
give extra time, or fill in answers on
 standardized tests.

Sports and cheating tend to go hand in hand.

Could this also be an influence on our

children’s morals? When they see the adults
of their coaches and teachers cheating, can
that also be a heavy influence on the way they
think?

Sumo wrestlers are less about competition,

but more about maintaining honor.

Sports and cheating often go hand and hand,

and even though players who cheat are
penalized, most fans have understanding
towards the player.

No matter how much evidence there is, no

formal action has been made against a Sumo
Wrestler who rigged a match.

But a personal question of mine is, that in

some instances not all, those who accel in
athletics are given special opportunities like
scholarships and special awards, while
academics are normally not (in some cases) as
generous in achievement as athletic programs
are. Societies, both seen in sumo wrestlers of
Japan or baseball in America are more
accepting of cheating, while cheating in
schools is seen as dishonest and horrific.
Inequalities maybe?

Moral of the chapter: The people who you

least expect anything of, can do the
unexpected. Such as teachers being the
unlikely teachers, paying fines raising the
numbers of late pick ups, and those who
change the game with the most unlikely
degrees. While this is seen as greatly
dishonest, sports often get free passes on
cheating.

Chapter 2
S: Normal speaker
O: Occasion
A: (See above chapters)
P:Purpose
S:Subject
The main subject of this chapter is on the
“Sins of Information” which first tells the
audience of one man who was able to double-
agent as a KKK member to gain information
about the Klan, and used this information
against the group to decrease interest.
Although this example is an extraordinary one
for its intelligent resourcefulness for taking
down a horrific terrorist power by using secret
information against it, there were instances of
experts hiding important information from
buyers in order to make consumers buy at the
highest price. They also use this false
information as a fear tactic to buy things that
you do not really need. This isn’t only used by
experts, but even normal people are able to
stretch the truth to seem appealing. We also
talk about discrimination.
T: No Unified theme
S: In this chapter, it is noted that Superman is
used as a symbol for American power and
freedom against enemies such as the Nazis
and the KKK. The use of Superman’s
symbolism is highly effective to the public, as
Superman is America’s “good guy” and
“savior of the world” to turn America against
modern day threats to freedom. This is so
effective that the KKK began losing members
and public interest.
W: See above chapters will be used because
this section is a bit useless as each chapter has
similar word structure.
The KKK evolved from young confederates,
who eventually became one of America’s
most notorious terrorist organizations.
Activities included lynching and terrorizing
blacks, and whites who supported blacks.
1915’s The Birth of A Nation sparked a
second coming of the Klan.
During the 1920s, the Klan reached a number
of 8 million people including the president-
not only blacks were targeted but also
catholics, communists, immigrants and jews.
WW2 also put the Klan on a temporary low,
but there were signs of beginning again.
Kennedy was drawn against bigotry and
small-mindedness, and so he went undercover
as a member of the Klan in order to work
against it.
The number of lynchings decreased overtime
during the 2nd Klan of the 1920s.
Kennedy asked a radio program to write about
the KKK and Superman destroying the
organization. The episodes became a hit, and
the Klansmen became increasingly distressed.
Applications started failing.
Kennedy used information to cause the
KKK’s popularity to fall.
During the 1990s, the Internet’s increasing
popularity began the price fall of life
insurance. This was all due to
Quotesmith.com.
“Information is the currency of the internet”.
Because people were looking for the best deal,
companies began decreasing in money and
 people were paying less than a billion dollars
F: Figurative Language on life insurance.

T: Consistent tone The internet is particularly dangerous when an

expert takes his information to make people
feel cheap and unintelligent enough to make
them buy the highest priced items, and often
not be told about lower priced items. This is
an example of asymmetry information, which
can be dangerous- especially those who
mistake wrongful information as undeniably
true. This caused companies in the early
2000s to manipulate their information online.

“Sins of Information”.

Used as an example, a real estate agent may

not see you selling a home as an ally, but they
may seek to persuade (subtly) to settle for the
lowest prices.

10 real estate ad terms:

Fantastic: Low Price
Granite: High Price
Spacious: Low Price
State-of-the-art: High Price
!: Low Price
Corian: High Price
Charming: Low Price
Maple: High Price
Great Neighborhood: Low Price
Gourmet: High Price

This information should not tell us that all

agents and experts want to take advantage of
you. We even twist information in our own
lives, such as at job interviews, or other
scenarios where you want to look your
absolute best.

We use a “Weakest Link” system to profile

people on their age, height, sex, and race
which can be seen on the television game
show of the same name.

Taste based discrimination is when one

 refuses to interact with one type of person.

Information based discrimination occurs when

someone believes someone has poor skills and
acts upon it.

Chapter 3

I will be removing SOAPST and SWIFT from Conventianal wisdom is associated with our
this column, because I’m not entirely sure if own understanding and things that appeal to
the formula is necessarily “useful” for myself, us, but are rather comfortable for us, but that
as the information tends to be a bit repetitive does not make them true.
and it is tiring to be typing the same
information over and over again. Advertising can also carry notes of
conventional wisdom with products such as
Theme: You can find the most interesting data listerine using false health claims to inflate
from the very places you try to avoid. profits.

Advocates (such as George W. Bush, Mike

Snyder’s homeless dying population, and
Women’s Rights Advocates) have been used
to draw attention to political issues.

In answering intelligent questions, you must

collect a substantial amount of data from
reputable sources.

Sudhir Venkatesh is given an assignment to

visit the poorest black neighborhoods of
Chicago to ask them a survey question; “how
does it feel to be black and poor?” He later
found out that the addresses were outdated,
and came upon a bunch of teenagers who
were in a gang, and eventually they asked
why he came there, and he told them about the
survey. He became more interested in how the
gang functioned, so he embedded himself in
the game to see how things worked, and to
collect data.

He is a good example of how he went into a

community that was uncomfortable for him,

Chapter 4
Theme: What caused the 1990s crime drop?
The author completes an analysis on the
possible factors that contributed to crime
drop, such as high imprisonment rates, gun
control… and even abortion?! This chapter is
made to give the reader a good idea on how to
create an interesting question, and shows the
research involved into finding the right
answers from the right sources.
but he did it to gain the best data possible. To
reach this data, you cannot be concerned with
your own safeties and comforts, but you have
to reach outside, and maybe out to sources
that you never thought you would talk to.
It is shocking how a crack gang is able to
function much like a capitalist enterprise;
except you have more of a 1 in 4 chance of
being killed.
Crack gangs, alike many other kids who
aspire to be famous and have careers, want to
do whatever it takes to reach the top. The
difference, is that crack gangs often compete
for smaller prizes.
Crack was ideal for many people who
glamorized it, and these gangs sell it because
a small amount of it sends the addict back for
more.
The crack gangs also provided employment
for those who needed to support their families.
Crack affected the black community the most;
rising infant mortality rates, gaps in education,
as did parent abandonment that hurt this
community the most. This lead to 4 times the
violence.
Where did all of the crime go?
The growing economy did not affect financial
crime rates as data shows. It does not directly
affect violent crime.
Between 1980-2000, there was a massive
increase of the number of people who were
sent to prison on drug charges.
The link between increased punishment and
the crime rate correlates strongly, but still has
 many problems, such as being fairly empty (as
many prisoners are not executed, and it is
extremely obvious).

Higher rates of imprisonment was highly

effective because of increased police
strategies and the increased number of police
officers. This rose about 14% in the 1990s,
when the crime drop occurred.

New York City homicide rates went from

30.7% down to 8.4%

The Brady Gun Control Act of 1993 made it

so a person trying to purchase a gun had to
give their criminal record and a waiting
period. But this act did not necessarily cause
any major changes, as most local gun control
acts had failed in high crime cities like New
York City and Los Angeles.

The price of cocaine began failing. It also did

not contribute to lowering crime. Although
homicide rates of street gangs had gone down
(due to less severe punishment of murder, but
merely injuring other dealers from rival gangs
and the lost interest in the crack business) it
still does not disclose that the use of crack is
devastating.

Roe vs Wade was the factor that cause crime

to go down. Mothers who aborted their
children, because they knew they would
become criminals. For example, in the 1970s-
1990s, states with low abortion rates also
experienced low crime drops.

Chapter 5

Theme: An expert must boil down his theory into

The theme focuses mostly around parenting, conventional wisdom and the public’s
but it does teach a valuable lesson in emotions.
Regression Analysis, and the factors that
either truly matter and don’t- the reader learns Parents are often scared and pressured. Fear is
how to take large quantities of data and learns
to condense data into correlations between X
and Y in various editions.
a main factor of parenting.
“Since I am in control of ___, I am keeping
myself safe” is actually the wrong attitude for
parents/ people to accept.
A fear of death causes panic in people. The
possibility of death drives fear.
Why is a Swimming Pool less frightening
than a gun?
A child’s performance in school often
outweighs personality when describing a
child’s future outcome.
Regression analysis uses statistical techniques
to identify elusive correlations. It enables
economists to go through large piles of data
by focusing on two constants and showing
how they co-very.
In this example, the researcher can correlate
children who share characteristics and
children who don’t- this isolates the impact of
the switch.
What matters and what doesn’t?
Matters:
The child has highly educated parents
The child’s parents have a high
socioeconomic status
The mother was older than 30 when she gave
birth to the child
The child has a low birthweight
The child’s parents speak english
Parent involvement in PTA
Doesn’t:
The child’s family is intact
The child’s parents move into a better
neighborhood
The child’s mother did not work between
birth and Kindergarten
The child attended Head Start

Chapter 6
Theme:
The theme of this chapter centralizes around
how much significance a child’s name weighs
upon their future and names on the
socioeconomic ladder.
The child is regularly spanked
The child watches TV
Parents are not powerless when it comes to
their adopted children.
“Naming is destiney”
Does your child’s name affect their life?
The explosion of black names was inspired by
Black Power.
Nearly 30% of black girls in California are
given unique names.
40% of white babies are given names 4x more
common among whites.
A person with a distinctively black name
tends to have a worse outcome with someone
with a “white” name.
Yet this isn’t due to names; it is due to
economics and family. It is more likely they
will share the same financial situations with
their parents.
There is a strong link to a parent’s education
level and the name of their baby.
Once a name catches on high income, highly
educated parents move the name down the
socioeconomic ladder. Many parents like
names that sound sucessful, so many middle
to low income parents often name their
children higher income names, until these
names cycle into lower class names.
The name most likely won’t make a
difference, but it will make a parent feel
better.